


Pretty Underneath (All That Blood)

by RhythmRose



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Blood, Love Confessions, M/M, Not really graphic, it's not angsty lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 17:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11537079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhythmRose/pseuds/RhythmRose
Summary: Henry loved blood, but seeing it on Ricken wasn't as endearing as he thought it would be.





	Pretty Underneath (All That Blood)

**Author's Note:**

> Does this ship still exist? idk

Henry's always had a unique interest in blood, but when he saw Ricken covered in it for the first time, he almost felt his world change. 

Ricken knew better than to let his guard down during a battle. But he had to glance away when he heard a yell from Chrom--naturally. He saw him passionately saving Robin from an enemy, yelling as he did so, which made Ricken glad to see that he wasn't hurt. But, before he knew it, he felt a sword slash against his arm roughly, causing him to yell out in pain. He felt some of the blood from the wound spurt wildly onto his face before he covered it with his hand. He staggered--he hadn't been hurt this bad in a long time and hadn't expected to be, which was his mistake. 

In fact, the reason he hadn't expected to be hurt was casting a spell at the enemy that hit him right now, before the Risen could attack him again. It was Henry. He knew Henry would always have his back, very loyal in his friendship and always just a few spaces away. He remembered Henry telling him that he would go on a rampage if Ricken was to be killed, and he believed it. The power in the tome he was casting right now already seemed more powerful than usual, most likely because Ricken had gotten hurt. 

Speaking of which, he remembered that Henry's spells ended up being quite messy. He quickly turned around and covered his face with the hand not covering his wound right before the spell landed on the enemy, hearing the Risen die colorfully behind him as he felt blood splatter onto his cloak, even feeling some still land on his face and the hand protecting it.

Ricken preferred to attack enemies from a distance (unless Chrom was looking), so he never had to cover himself like that before. He felt only a little sick, even though they had been in war for a while, feeling the blood splash onto him didn't settle well in his stomach. He covered his mouth before he saw Henry run up to him, an unusually worried look on his face. Ricken was caught off guard for a moment, uncovering his face before wincing as he felt some blood start to drip down closer to his eyes. 

"Most of this... is yours?" Henry asked, but he barely asked it as a question. He sounded more in disbelief. Ricken, even through all the time he had spent with him so far in the war and having come to be his closest friend, hadn't seen such an intense emotion on his face before. Was he that upset at Ricken getting hurt?

"Yeah... it is," Ricken answered hesitantly, then watched and felt Henry wipe away some of the blood on his forehead, stopping it from making contact with his eyes. He mumbled a thank you and nearly felt like blushing when he thought about the action before he heard Chrom shout that they had cleared the area. He was still caught up in the moment with Henry before they both turned when they heard Lissa shout while running up to them. "Ricken! Gods, you're absolutely drenched in blood! And look at that wound you're covering, it's so big I can still see it from under your hand...!" 

Ricken glanced at the wound to see that, yes, a good amount of it was still unprotected from his hand. It was still seeping blood, pouring down from his arm onto his boots. He moved his arm away so that it fell onto the ground. He felt bloody enough as it was. He wondered what he looked like right now. He wondered what Henry was thinking right now, acting so off. 

"Let's get you healed up! Keep covering that wound and hurry as best as you can to the tent, okay?" she said, then started jogging away towards the healer's tent. He glanced at Henry, who looked strangely lost in thought. But the dark mage realized he was leaving and waved with a "make sure you don't turn the whole tent red, nya-ha!" before running off. Ricken paused for a moment before feeling the burning of his wound and hurried towards the healer's tent.

________________________________________

Ricken glanced at the bandaging on his arm, feeling much better being clean but didn't like that the bandage probably made him look like a little kid who made a mistake. _'I was looking out for Chrom!'_ he thought, then thought it a little silly that he was defending himself in his mind. He decided it was practice for if anyone questioned his ability after seeing the wrapping. 

He was walking to Henry's tent as he was lost in thought. He wanted to check on him after what happened earlier. It was so weird to Ricken. He wasn't sure how he thought Henry would react to Ricken being hurt and nearly covered in blood, but Henry being oddly quiet and worried wasn't what he expected. He had seen Henry worry for him, albeit in his own weird Henry-way. But he really wanted to ask about his reaction, hopefully without making him sad or anything. 

Ricken stopped thinking about it when he saw Henry's tent coming up. Stopping in front of it, he called out "Henry?" and hoped that his friend would be okay. 

"Come in!" the cheerful, as usual, voice called back. He took the fact that Henry sounded normal as a good thing and thought that maybe he was over-thinking what happened earlier for a moment. Though, he walked in to see Henry almost looking anxious, but with a smile on his face. He watched the mage run towards him and look at his wrapped-up arm. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Henry. There's no need to worry, really," he reassured as best he could, feeling that Henry needed it. He was glad to see him sigh in relief, his mouth falling into a much more natural smile than usual. 

"Good! I was worried there, you know? You were covered in that Risen's blood, and... your own..." but then Ricken started to worry when Henry's voice quieted down at the end of his sentence. 

"Henry, are you okay? I, um, thought you liked blood...?" he asked slowly. He understood that seeing it all over another person was different, but Henry enjoyed seeing it on himself and was fine when it was on others. Was Ricken that different? 

"I do! I _love_ it! But... that was... different! I felt a rush of... something when I saw you covered in blood. I became really worried! I love blood but seeing you covered in it wasn't nearly as nice as I thought it would be!" Henry confessed, opening his purple eyes as he did rarely. Ricken ignored the thought that they looked pretty. He also ignored the fact that Henry had implied that he once thought seeing Ricken covered in blood would be appealing. But that did make him realize that, yes, he was that different in Henry's mind. 

"I-I.. well, I'm glad that you were worried, but you really don't need to be and it feels a little unfair!" Ricken admitted, sitting on Henry's bed since he knew he was allowed to (and figured he would be talking with him for a while). He watched as Henry sat next to him and curiously tilted his head while he continued. "Are you that worried about me getting hurt? I'm not a kid!" 

"Ricken, haha, you know I don't think you're a little kid! It's not like that, you know?"

"Then what is it like?" Ricken asked, coming off as more distressed and confused than any sort of mad. He took a moment to calm himself down as he waited for Henry, who was thinking about what to say back. 

"Well, I really don't see you as a kid for one," he said, more seriously than Ricken had expected. Henry was doing a lot of things Ricken didn't expect today. "For second, I think you're special." 

Well, didn't that just confirm all of Ricken's thoughts. 

"What do you mean?" Ricken asked tentatively because he was still worried just _how_ he was special to Henry even if he knew by now that the other would mean no harm by it either way. 

"I'm not sure," the teen shrugged, sending a careless smile to him. "I think I like you, though!" 

"Like me?" Ricken frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. "Well, I guess I figured that out a long time ago. Why would that be news?" 

"No, silly Ricken!" Henry laughed and tilted his head at him, "I like you! Maybe even love--I definitely think about you more than anyone else!" 

For some reason, Ricken wasn't as completely shocked as he thought he'd be to hear that statement. He was definitely still surprised, his eyes widened and he felt his mouth drop just a bit, but he wasn't jumping up or feeling his mind short-circuit. He just stared at Henry for a moment and considered his words. 

"You _like_ me?" he mused, furrowing his brows once more and glancing away. "I-I guess I think about you a lot too." 

Before Ricken could say anything more, Henry perked up and gasped, causing the younger mage to flinch. 

"I know what that rush of something was!" he nearly yelled, and Ricken went to hush him but was once again stopped when Henry hugged him. "I know now! It was a surge of protection! I never want to see that happen to you again. It was scary seeing you covered in blood! I protect you with all I have to make sure that doesn't happen, Ricken!" 

Ricken honestly felt some heat rise to his face at the sentiment. He didn't even think it was childish for once--he heard that people who liked each other want to protect each other, so he was okay with it. And that's when he really understood that Henry didn't see him as a kid. 

"I'm going to protect you too," he decided, hugging Henry back while being minutely cautious of his bandaged arm, "now you know how I feel when I see you covered in blood, right? So I want to make sure it doesn't happen to you either." he didn't sound as confident as Henry did when he said it, but he still sounded as genuine as possible. 

Henry giggled in his unique way and Ricken almost pulled back to huff at him, but instead, Henry did that first and kissed his cheek. "We'll protect each other! We'll become the strongest in the army, and die together!" 

Ricken's face was now very noticeably red, but he decided to talk before he got overrun from the embarrassment. "Can't we live together instead?" 

Henry blinked, and some red even rose to his face, but he deflected it with a sincere smile that put stars in Ricken's eyes. "You're right! Let's do that instead, I think that would be better!" 

Ricken just couldn't help but smile back, and let his head fall to Henry's shoulder. 

"It would be much better."

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this a while ago, but here, have a little Henricken since it barely exists anymore! :')  
> I'm sad they didn't get that much attention, especially when Awakening was in its peak, but what else can you do but make a fic 3 years past the peak am I right?  
> Speaking of which, it's been a while since I played that game, but I hope they're in character!  
> I always felt like they wouldn't be super lovey-dovey or have a huge confession. I feel like it would be more like best friends dating and still being best friends, which I feel really works for them.  
> Please tell me if you notice any grammar or style mistakes so I can improve my writing! Thank you!


End file.
